Finishing the Fireplace, Part 4: Mounting the Mantel

I am all over alliteration!

Don’t we just want to see the good stuff first?  Here is the gorgeous new fireplace and surround.

I’ve still got a few finishing touches (of course), but it is basically complete! And I am so happy.

So here’s how we mounted the mantel shelf.

My awesome cousin works for FastenMaster, so he’s totally turned us on to their products and we’re sold! They’re easier to use than lag bolts and just as strong. We use them for mounting everything from our TV to…well, our mantel!

We ended up using these 6” HeadLoks to screw a 2”x4” into the studs above the fireplace. We used some scraps of mantel to keep the 2”x4” the right distance from the surround.

Then I found an old piece of ranch baseboard to make up the 3/8” difference. (The inside of the mantel was 1 7/8” and a 2”x4” is only 1.5”.)

(Here’s Brandon demonstrating the ranch trim.) :)

And here’s a close up of the trim sitting on top of the 2”x4”.

We held that in place with some wood glue and a couple of 18ga nails from our air nailer.

After testing the board’s ridiculous strength, it was time to mount the shelf!

I just slipped the mantel over the boards for a nice, snug fit!

Then I remembered that maybe I should center this shelf. So I took some measurements and slid it around accordingly.

Then I secured the shelf with about 4 – 2” screws on top (they’ll pretty much never be seen, since the shelf is high and will soon have stuff on it) and some brad nails up through the bottom.

And Voila! Let’s look again.

I still need to fill the gap between the tile and the molding, either with some small trim or caulk. And I made add a little somethin’ somethin’ to the top board. But those things are really just tiny compared to this whole project! 

(Oh, and at some point, we do need something fireproof under the fireplace, instead of just the wood floor. But that’s a big decision and a potentially big project for a number of reasons, so for now, I’ll just be careful and/or find a temporary solution!)

Let’s go back to where we began:

This is how we lived since then:

And now:

I can’t wait to start decorating, so we can get some real “before” and “after” shots! I’ve already got a frame and ordered some artwork…  ;)

(Read the rest of the fireplace saga here.)

Finishing the Fireplace, Part 3

The next step in the great fireplace project was to bring all the mantel parts inside for priming, painting, then installation.

I primed the base of the mantel shelf and the top side of the mantle shelf with Zinsser Smart Prime.

Then, I flipped it over, and filled the gaps/seams with some more Power Grab Molding Adhesive…I don’t know, I just started to get worried, and thought “better safe than sorry.”

Then I glued the base to the top shelf.

I let it dry for a few minutes, then crossed my fingers and flipped it over, so I could see my work!

Then I piled a bunch of books on top while the glue dried.

To install the shelf, I planned on mounting a 2”x4” to the wall, and letting this opening in the back of the mantel slip over it, sort of like a floating shelf. Of course, this opening is 1 7/8” tall, so I had to do some thinking, since a 2”x4” is only 1.5”.

But while I was finding something to add to my wall-mounted 2”x4”, I finished priming and putting a first coat of paint onto the unit.

And here is where I’m going to leave you hanging.  :) Just like I had to wait for the paint, to dry, I’m going to make you wait till tomorrow to see the finished product! ;)

Goodbye, Summer

Here’s a sort of sad picture of the last of my wildflowers. I’m sad I didn’t get a happy shot a few days ago, because these pink ones were still going strong! And it was a gorgeous sight in early November.

It seems the flowers don’t believe in keeping it up past election day. :)

I guess I’ll be mowing down the meadow soon, to prepare for next spring!

Vote Early and Vote Often!

I am a nerd and I love voting! What a great place we live in, that we get to choose the people who will represent us!

Happy Election Day!

Finishing the Fireplace, Part 2

When last I chatted about the fireplace, I was all in a tizzy over having my mantel materials.

Putting together the surround was easy. I’m no woodworker, so I was careful to do one step at a time, and take measurements carefully before each new cut. First, I measured the height for the fluted MDF molding that would form the 2 sides of the surround. I cut them to length with our miter saw, then used Loctite PowerGrab Molding adhesive on each piece.

I tried just using painters tape to hold the molding in piece, but it wasn’t quite happening. So I crossed my fingers and got out my 18 gauge pneumatic nailer and little air compressor to see if they’d penetrate the concrete backerboard that’s behind the molding, and it worked! Just a couple of nails in the top, middle, and bottom held the board in place while the glue dried.

Then I measured the final finished width of everything before cutting my 1”x8” board for across the top.

After rave reviews of Zinsser’s Smart Prime from Young House Love, I went to a local Benjamin Moore dealer to pick up a gallon. (It wasn’t available at Menards or Lowe’s.)

I got it because while I love the great fast-drying and stain-blocking properties of all Zinsser primers, this one is supposed to be self-leveling/smoothing, so you’ll see less brush strokes/roller marks. So far, I must say I’m extremely pleased, but I’ve been using it on raw wood. I’ll keep you updated as I use it on other projects around the house.

After priming the top piece, I wanted to let it dry for 24 hours. Although you can topcoat the Smart Prime in a hour, the can says to let it dry longer for better stain and tannin blocking. I don’t often see tannin from pine bleed through, but I have before and wanted to take the extra precaution so I wouldn’t have to repaint this project later.

So I got to work building the mantel. My plan was to use the 1”x4” as the bottom of the mantel, cover it with the crown molding, that would then hold up the 1”x8” shelf. Simple enough, except that I have never worked with crown molding before.

To miter the outside corners of the crown molding, I Googled around and read what I could, then I kept this eHow video up, as well as this reference page from DeWalt tools to guide me along. Truthfully, though, it was  lot of trial and error. And really, I have no idea how I ended up successfully getting my corners to (pretty-much) match up, so I can’t give you tips. But it worked, and with a little bit (or a lotta bit) of caulk, they’re looking pretty good.

I didn’t really know how to photograph this, so here’s what I got. This is the 1”x4” inside the crown molding. (I used wood glue and 18 ga nails to hold it together.)

And here’s the outside, where you can see the 1”x4” is hidden.

Next, I began the tedious process of caulking up all my not-quite-matching joints. I ended up doing about 3 layers of caulk and a little wood filler. I’m normally not that worried about the details that no one will notice, but because this is the mantel and I want people to believe that it’s a fine bit of woodworking, I took the time to really cover my mistakes. :)

Stay tuned for more!

Young House Love Book!

I got my copy of the Young House Love book today in the mail!

I’ve only wasted a little time perusing it’s pages and I’m so happy! (I did manage to get a coat of stain on our back porch today.)  It’s got some super great ideas, including some about projects and problems I’ve recently been thinking about.  Yaaaaay!!!  One of my favorite blogs come to book form – and all their hype was right on. It’s not just a rehashing of their blog, but it’s just as good as their blog! It’s an idea book, and it’s just what I was hoping for! (Don’t you love all these exclamation points and excitement! I do!)

Be back in a bit with more mantel updates!

Finishing the Fireplace, Part 1

Oh man, this fireplace project may actually becoming close to completion.

Remember this?

Oh yeah, it has definitely looked like that for months. It’s not that I wasn’t working on it at all, but I was partaking in the tedious job of applying layers of drywall mud to the surrounding wall, trying to make everything look smooth and not patchy. I’m no expert mudder, so it took a while and I hated every minute of it. :)

Then I did not feel like dragging out priming and painting supplies for such a small paint job.

But I finally did it!

First the primer. I used Zinsser’s FastPrime.

Then the paint.  I bought another gallon of Benjamin Moore’s Sail Cloth to match the existing living room paint.

I was so excited that I went right out to buy materials for the mantel!

Little did I realize what a project that would become.

I had always planned to build the surround myself, since it’s relatively simple and our fireplace is sitting up higher than an average fireplace so most kits wouldn’t really cut it. But I did plan on buying a pre-made mantel shelf kit at Menards.

Luckily, while I was at Menards, I thought to call Brandon to double check my measurements before I bought anything.

And yup. It turned out that the 6’ mantel kit I planned on buying was an inch too long for the wall. I guess once my layers and layers of mud went up, my measurements ended up being off. Womp womp. The other mantel kit available was only 5’ long, which would end up being 2 inches too short to span my tile. Double womp womp.

I panicked for a minute. Then I looked closely at the mantel kit and some of the other fireplace displays at Menards, and thought, I can just build this myself. I’m no woodworker, but whatever. What else was I gonna do?

So, here’s what I bought: 2 – 8’ sections of this decorative (fluted?) MDF trim, and a select grade 1” x 8” x 6’ board for the surround; and a select grade 1” x 4” x 6’ board, a select grade 1” x 8” x 6’ board, and an 8’ piece of pine crown molding for the mantel shelf.  I also got a couple different tubes of construction adhesive – something I don’t often use, but I figured would come in handy for this project.

What’s awesome is that all the materials for the surround and mantel cost around $75, (including my construction adhesive) which is less than just the mantel shelf kit which started for around $100 with the surround materials costing another $35 or so.

Boy, was I excited! Stay tuned for the rest of the project!